lupinfarm
Loving the herd life
Today we went down to bot worm Luna and noticed she seemed lame, at first i thought colic or founder...normal gut sounds, normal pooing, normal everything, also she showed no real signs of founder. She seemed very stiff and lame, i thought it was her back legs at first, she did a huge sliding stop the other day and she had some blood on her hoof but i figured out that was actually from a bug bite because she hasn't let me near her to spray her (today she did, so now she's on a fly spray scheduale). As she walked she seemed unable balance, and upon closer inspection it looks to me like she may have a clubfoot on her front left, high heel and very upright whereas her right is normal.
Essentially, my actual question is .. does a clubfoot if left untreated or unnoticed create a considerable amount of pain in the joints? thus rendering the horse lame/stiff.
i'm calling the farrier as i type this hoping to push her appointment so we can get her in this weekend. i should also add that she's been lethargic but i'm right now putting on the fact that she's been getting bitten to death out there by flies, skeeters, horse flies, etc. because she wouldn't let me fly spray her. now she's fly sprayed she should get some rest from the bugs. could lethargy also be attributed to the clubfoot and extra work getting around?
UPDATE so we had her trimmed, farrier said to soak her foot in warm water with epsom, we did that for two days and she appeared to have a knick in the front of her hoof after that, which I want to say was an abscess because the heat is gone in her front leg and she seems fine there HOWEVER she is VERY stiff in the hind legs, has trouble moving out but when she gets walking and grazing she seems fine. She's lethargic but it has also been VERY hot here, she is a lot more active in the evening when it has cooled down.
I'm trying to get the vet out, but they're fairly booked up... and I haven't been paid yet. I was looking for possible causes, osteoarthritis and just plain sore stuck out to me but it could be any number of things. She took a severe sliding stop last week, right into the fenceline and went right down on the haunches which may have either aggravated an already existing condition (arthritis maybe?) or caused an injury. I didn't feel heat in the back legs yesterday, but I will be checking around her hocks later on which is where the stiffness seems to be.
Essentially, my actual question is .. does a clubfoot if left untreated or unnoticed create a considerable amount of pain in the joints? thus rendering the horse lame/stiff.
i'm calling the farrier as i type this hoping to push her appointment so we can get her in this weekend. i should also add that she's been lethargic but i'm right now putting on the fact that she's been getting bitten to death out there by flies, skeeters, horse flies, etc. because she wouldn't let me fly spray her. now she's fly sprayed she should get some rest from the bugs. could lethargy also be attributed to the clubfoot and extra work getting around?
UPDATE so we had her trimmed, farrier said to soak her foot in warm water with epsom, we did that for two days and she appeared to have a knick in the front of her hoof after that, which I want to say was an abscess because the heat is gone in her front leg and she seems fine there HOWEVER she is VERY stiff in the hind legs, has trouble moving out but when she gets walking and grazing she seems fine. She's lethargic but it has also been VERY hot here, she is a lot more active in the evening when it has cooled down.
I'm trying to get the vet out, but they're fairly booked up... and I haven't been paid yet. I was looking for possible causes, osteoarthritis and just plain sore stuck out to me but it could be any number of things. She took a severe sliding stop last week, right into the fenceline and went right down on the haunches which may have either aggravated an already existing condition (arthritis maybe?) or caused an injury. I didn't feel heat in the back legs yesterday, but I will be checking around her hocks later on which is where the stiffness seems to be.
